Leftover Meats Make For Great Next-Day Salads

For some people, leftovers never began as a home-cooked meal. More likely the mound of food sitting in the refrigerator is what remains of last night’s restaurant dinner.

If the original choice was a complete dish, such as lasagna or spaghetti, the solution is simple: Zap it in the microwave. But a basic food, such as a hamburger or steak, needs a little enhancement.

With the observation that few people finish (or should finish) the eight-ounce hamburgers or one-pound steaks that restaurants serve, I created two delightful salad entrees using the leftovers.

Hamburger Salad is a hearty combination of new potatoes, cooked and diced, ground beef, celery, tomato and blue cheese in a mustard-olive oil dressing.

A steak budget rates a little Dijon mustard and sherry wine vinegar. When using the steak recipe, trim off and discard any fat; likewise blot any congealed fat from the hamburger. Cold fat is not appealing.

Doggy bags rarely contain a sweet (it’s amazing that people never lose their capacity for dessert). However, with a little effort one can prepare a great raspberry dessert with enough custard sauce for … leftovers.

Hamburger Salad

6 small new potatoes

Salt

3 to 4 ounces cooked hamburger (with or without seasonings)

1/2 cup chopped Walla Walla or other sweet onion

1 large tomato, cored and diced

1 celery stalk, diced

2 ounces (1/2 cup) crumbled blue cheese

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 1/4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Cook potatoes in salted water to cover until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well. Peel or not, as preferred. Cut into bite-size pieces and place in salad bowl. Dice hamburger and add to bowl along with onion, tomato, celery and blue cheese.

Stir together cumin, mustard, olive oil and pepper and salt to taste in cup. Pour over salad and toss well.

Yield: 2 servings.

Steak Salad

2 cups leftover grilled sirloin, porterhouse or similar piece of meat, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-size pieces

1 celery stalk, diced

1/4 cup diced green onion

1 small sweet red pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons pitted and chopped green olives

2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon crushed dried tarragon, optional

Salt, freshly ground black pepper

Lettuce leaves

Combine steak, celery, green onion, red pepper and olives in bowl.

Stir together vinegar, mustard, oil and tarragon in cup. Season to taste with salt and plenty of pepper. Pour over meat mixture. Toss well. Set aside at room temperature 10 minutes.

Line 2 plates with lettuce leaves and divide salad between plates. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 2 servings.

Raspberries with Custard Sauce

1/2 cup whipping cream or half and half

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 1/2 to 2 cups raspberries

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate

Combine cream and milk in heavy-bottomed pan. Bring to simmer.

Beat together sugar, egg yolk and lemon peel in bowl. Pour 1/2 cup milk mixture over sugar mixture and beat well. Pour this back into pan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Set aside until warm, not hot, about 15 minutes.

Spoon 3/4 to 1 cup raspberries into each of 2 bowls. Top each with 1/4 cup custard sauce. (Leftover sauce can be stored in covered container in refrigerator several days.)

Melt chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water or in microwave (start with 30 seconds at medium power, never high, until chocolate melts). Drizzle half of chocolate over each serving. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings.